Process of making roadways, railroad-beds, pavements, and the like.



. M. A. PoPKEss. PROCESS 0I' MAKING ROADWAYS, RAILROAD BEDS, PAVBMENTS, AND THE LIKE. APPLIOATION FILED MAR.18, 1909. 981,685, Patented Ja11.17,1911.

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o l -N MPoja/ss M. A.- PUPKESS. PROUBSS 0F MAKING ROADWAYS, RAILROAD `BEDS, PAVBMENTS, AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 18, 1909.

981,685. Patented Jan. 17,1911.

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MICHAEL A. POPKESS, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR T0 BITUMINIZED ROAD COMPANY, OF PHOENIX, ARIZONA TERRITORY, A CORPORATION OF ARIZONA TER- RITORY.

PROCESS OF MAKING ROADVAYS, RAILROAD-BEDS, PAVEMENTS, AND THE LIKE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL A. Pornnss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Roadways, Railroad-Beds, Paveinents, and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

rlhis invention relates to a process for making roadways, railroad-beds, sidewalks, etc., of that type practically impervious to water and possessing resilient or cushioning and sound-deadening properties, and which furthermore are practically dustless and very durable, and my object is to evolve a process by which the binding` material employed in such roadways, railroad-beds, sidewalks etc., may be more economically distributed and uniformly incorporated with the earth or other surfacing material and thus avoid the production of a roadway defective because of imperfect distribution of the binder, the road at the points where it lacks sufficient binder being imperfect because it will crumble and rut. there an excessive quantity of binder exists the road is objectionable because such surplus binder works up through the earth or other surfacing material and forms puddles very objectionable to persons using the roadways on account of the adhesive and tenacious nature of the binder.

In the accompanying' drawing I have shown by way of illustration one means which may be employed in the carrying out of the essential features of my process.

Figure 1 represents in section a portion of -a machine comprising a plurality of harrow teeth through which the heating medium and the binder are injected into the earth below the surface thereof. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the front portion of Fig. 1. F ig. 3 is a cross section of the same, taken on the line 3-3 Fig. l is a cross section of one of the teeth, taken on line ile-l of Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a side view of a power roller provided with V-shaped rolling wheels, and Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the same, partly in section.

In these views, 1 represents a hollow, metal header, carrying hollow harrow teeth, said header in practice being attached to a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 18, 1909.

Patented Jan. 17, 1911.

serial No. 484,325.

traction machine and thereby drawn over the road to be surfaced. The header 1 is divided into two compartments 2 and 3, separated by a space et, and the forward compartment 2 has a pluralitmx7 of rows of staggered hollow harrow teeth 5 communicating with and depending therefrom. Said compartment 2 has also leading into its top a pipe G, through which highly heated gases and air, in a state of combustion, are supplied. rEhe teeth 5 are V-shaped in front, the back of the V being closed by a plate 7, secured by bolts S and provided with an opening 9 near its bottom, through which the blasts of llame pass rearwardly into the earth. r1`he rear compartment 3 has also several rows of staggered hollow tl-shaped teeth 10, and a pipe 1l enters its top, through which the liquid binder is supplied. r1`he rear of the V in this case is closed by a plate 12 provided with a series of notches or openings 13 along its edges (or it may be a continuous slot) through which the binder finds its way out rearwardly into the earth.

Figs.V 5 and 6 represent the rolling and grooving machine, hereinafter referred to, and its construction will, it is thought,`be obvious. The front and rear rollers, instead of being cylindrical as usual, are composed of a plurality of separate wheels or rollers 15, the peripheries of which are of truncated V-shape in cross-section.

In carrying out the invention, the road is first plowed or scarified to the required depth and then harrowed or otherwise treated to loosen and break up into smaller particles the plowed or scarilied earth, the roadway at the same time, being brought to the proper grade, if a change of grade is desired or necessary. The liquid or plastic binder, preferably the former, and by preference consisting of hot liquid asphalt or bitumen is then uniformly distributed in the earth thus loosened and pulverized, the distribution being effected by injecting the binder in the loosened earth by embedding the discharging appliances in the prepared earth and moving them therethrough, the appliances discharging the binder in a general rearward and substantially horizontal direction for about the full depth of the loosened or prepared earth, the discharge thus effected being, as will be readily understood, mainly below the surface of such earth to effect asubstantially complete and uniform saturation of the entire mass of prepared earth with. the binder. The earth, treated as above described, is then reharrowed or stirred to complete and render more thorough and intimate the mixture of the earth and binder.

After the second harrowing or stirring of the earth has occurred, though in some cases such second harrowing or stirring operation will be found unnecessary, the prepared earth is grooved for substantially Aits full depth, the grooves being V-shape in cross section and close together, the grooves being formed by means of a roller consisting of a series of wheels mounted closely together on the same axle, and having their tread surfaces converging outwardly to points or edges, this grooving of the prepared earth enabling the person in control by an inspection of the side walls of the grooves, to determine whether sutlicient binder has been injected and if the mixture is suh'iciently thorough. If determined in the negative, additional binder is injected at the point or points necessary, and such portion or portions of the roadway are then by preference, reharrowed and then regrooved for a second inspection, this treatment being repeated until the required quantity of binder has been injected and the distribution of the same is found to be substantially uniform. The earth thus prepared is smoothed or leveled by a drag or otherwise and then compressed, preferably by a compressor or tamper in the form of a roller consisting of a series of wheels mounted on the same axles and arranged closely together and provided with truncated V- shaped tread-portions, the wheels being truncated in order that they may instead of cutting clear through the prepared earth, compress or tamp the lower portion of the same on their first passage or trip over it. The prepared surface thus partly compressed or tamped is again leveled by means of the drag or otherwise and then the compressor or tamper is run over it a second time. It is then again leveled by preference and compressed alternately until eventually the wheels of the compressor or tamper have compressed the entire mass of prepared earth and ride upon its surface, the latter being finished, if desired, by running a heavy smooth roller over it, though it will be understood that upon a road of the construction described a vehicle will leave tracks, which tracks, however, because of the tough, tenacious and resilient character of the earth thus prepared will be shallow and obliterated by subsequent traffic over the road; in fact after it has been used for a sutlicient length of time it will become so dense as to be practically iinpervinus to impression by wheels of average weight vehicles.

The binder is jjnfeferably employed while hot and is of such character that it will not melt or materially soften under the heat of the sun, a binder of this character being far Vpreferable to the binder ordinarily eni- ,ployed as under the hot rays of the sun a road containing an excessive amount of the ordinary binder melts and becomes soft and sticky and is therefore objectionable, especially where the distribution of the binder has been imperfect. lilith a binder incapable of being melted by the heat of the sun, the injection process is necessary because if discharged upon the surface of the ground, it would quickly congeal and in such condition would be impossible to work into the prepared earth and effect its thorough and uniform distribution therein, it being obvious that by injecting the binder into the earth below its surface, it is largely7 protected from the air and hence congeals more slowly and thus gives ample time in which to efl'ect its proper incorporation with the earth.

Under some conditions, for instance where the earth is very dry and hard or sandy, l have 'found by experience that the incorporation of the binder with the earth is facilitated, by first injecting into the earth a suitable quantity of steam or uiteito dampen and soften the hard lumps and particles in order that it may more readily absorb and become mixed with the binder subsequently injected. By injecting water into the prepared earth instead of discharging it upon the surface thereof the \arth can be practically dampened without transferniing the surface into soft mud which would cause delay in the further progress of the work.

From the above description it will be apparent that a roadway having a prepared surface embodying' gravel or other line granular material mixed in and incorporated with loosened earth, may be likewise treated where a firmer and harder roadway or railroad-bed is desired or for the production of a sidewalk, it being obvious that a road prepared as described is practically dustless and that traffic may take place over it with practically no noise because of its compressibility. lt will also be apparent that by injecting the binder into a new macadam or rock or gravel road and then harrowing the surfacing material, the binder is more uniformly distributed and comes into contact with a greater area of such rock than where the low temperature binder is discharged upon the surface of the rock; in fact it is impracticable to treat a substantially pure rock or gravel road with vthe high-temperature binder unless the same is injected as described because it will not flow readily down into the interstices and will congeal so quickly when eXposed fully to the air that it is almost impossible to work it.

If the ground is cold, hot air, flame or steam can be injected into it before or at the same time as the injection of the binder as a precautionary measure against the congealing of the binder before it could be properly worked.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is;-

l. The process of making roadways, railroad-beds, sidewalks, etc., the same consisting in pulverizing the earth to a suitable depth and in injecting` into such pulverized earth" below the surface of the same, a liquid binder, then in stirring up or loosening the earth thus impregnated with the liquid binder, then in forming substantially V- shaped grooves in such prepared earth, and then in compressing or compacting such prepared earth down upon the underlying or solid bed or earth below.

2. The process of making roadways, railroad-beds, sidewalks, etc., the same consisting in pulverizing the earth to a suitable depth and in injecting` into such pulverized earth below the surface of the same, a liquid binder, then in stirring up or loosening the earth thus impregnated with the liquid binder, then in forming substantially V- shaped grooves in such prepared earth, then in compressing or compacting the prepared earth from the bottom upward.

The process of making roadways, railroad-beds, sidewalks, etc., the same consisting in pulverizing the earth to a suitable depth and then injecting into such pulverized earth below the surface of the same, a liquid binder, then in stirring up or loosening the earth thus impregnated with the liquid binder, then in forming substantially V- shaped grooves in such prepared earth, and then in compressing or compacting the pre-- pared earth from the bottom upward by running a roller over it consisting of wheels having truncated V-shaped tread portions.

4. The process of making roadways, railroad-beds, sidewalks, etc., the same consisting in pulverizing the earth to a suitable depth and in injecting into such pulverized earth below the surface of the same, a liquid binder, then in grooving the prepared earth, then in smoothing or leveling such grooved earth, and then in compressing or compacting such prepared earth from the bottom upward.

5. The process of making roadways, railroad-beds, sidewalks, etc., the same consisting in pulverizing the earth to a suitable depth and in injecting into such pulverized earth below the surface of the same, a liquid binder, then in grooving the prepared earth, then in smoothing or leveling such grooved earth, and then in compressing or compacting such prepared earth from the bottom upward and in leveling it alternately until the ent-ire mass of prepared earth is solidly compressed or compacted down upon the underlying earth or bed.

In testimony whereof I aliiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MICHAEL A. POPKESS.

fit-nesses H. C. RoDGnns, Gr. Y. THonPn. 

